The Mehlville Panthers and Oakville Tigers football teams both have chosen to run the ball on about 75 percent of their offensive plays in the first three weeks.

So the fans know what they’ll see and the teams will know how to stop each other.

But then the game will start.

“It doesn’t matter what the records are because it’s an inner-district rivalry. Both teams want to win it really bad,” Mehlville head coach Eric Meyer said.

The Panthers and Tigers both bring 1-2 records into Friday’s 7 p.m. game at Mehlville High School, 3200 Lemay Ferry Road, but Mehlville is coming off two losses while Oakville won its last game.

“They needed a win going into Mehlville,” Tigers head coach Arlee Connors said. “Mehlville’s a huge rivalry. Our kids live in the same neighborhoods. I even thought we needed a win before we get over there just to have our confidence up.”

The Tigers won the last two battles be-tween the schools, but the Panthers were victorious in the previous three.

Both teams were blown out in their two losses, and Mehlville’s win came at home while Oakville’s win came on the road.

Their résumés set up a September showdown in south county.